The Glorious Fourth was still on the minds of Demorest city leaders as they gathered for their first meeting since this year’s Independence Day celebration. City manager Mark Musselwhite thanked the sponsors and employees for their support and hard work in making the event a success.
“This past Tuesday, July 4th, was one of the most memorable for me. I have now been through the Glorious Fourth spectacular event,” Musselwhite said during Thursday night’s city council meeting. He encouraged those in the audience and those watching the livestream at home “to stand up and give the city employees (a hand), who worked their tails off, to make that happen.”
The audience stood and clapped.
RELATED Thousands turn out for a Glorious Fourth
No rain on Demorest parade
While several cities in the area got rained on during their Fourth of July celebrations, Demorest did not.
“I don’t know what we did, but we did something right,” said Musselwhite.
Although the weather stayed dry, it was awfully hot, reaching into the triple digits by mid-afternoon. There were a few heat-related illnesses reported during the day. The Demorest postmaster turned down the air-conditioning in the post office so that it could be used as a cooling station. The city is looking into adding more cooling stations next year.
Musselwhite made note of the heat as he recognized the long hours employees put into making this year’s Glorious Fourth Celebration a success.
“It takes a village to throw that event,” he said.
The city manager has already met with department heads to discuss how this year’s event went and what can be improved upon for next year. Department heads and staff will begin work next week on pre-planning for 2024.
Demorest Mayor Pro Tem Shawn Allen thanked Musselwhite for his contributions in pulling together the event mere months into his job.
“You did a great job managing and putting everything together. We’re not perfect, but we try to be as much as possible. Thank you, Mark, for what you did.”
At that, the audience again applauded.
Demorest Councilmember Donnie Bennett also weighed in, saying he was impressed by the efforts city employees made to make guests feel “comfortable and safe.”
“I was very impressed with all of that. They were out there just doing their job. They were promoting the types of things we want to promote as Demorest. I was so impressed.”
A turning point
That sense of community and ‘best foot forward’ approach were also apparent in Demorest’s choice for this year’s parade grand marshall. By inviting Piedmont University President Marshall Criser to serve in that role, Demorest signaled a turning point in its once-soured relationship with the school.
Piedmont hired Criser to succeed Dr. James Mellichamp, whose final years at the school were mired in bitter legal wrangling with the city. Piedmont settled its lawsuit against Demorest in February, one month after Criser took office.
A similar sense of unity was reflected in the crowd at the Glorious Fourth celebration as friends and strangers alike came out to celebrate America’s birthday. Thousands attended the parade and concert and, as Musselwhite put it, one “heck of a [fireworks] show.”
Allen thanked the media for promoting the event, and Musselwhite gave one last shout-out to sponsors.
“Sponsors definitely helped contribute to this event,” he said. “Thank you to the sponsors for your financial help and for helping us put this on for a larger community.”
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